Kidnapping is feared to return to Kenya’s dark past

The disappearance of more than 80 government critics in the last six months has led to a huge public backlash in Kenya.

A judge has warned that he would imprison top security officers for contempt of court on Monday, if he recently failed to appear for the third time to be responsible for a wire of alleged kidnappings.

The case is related to the disappearance of the documents on human rights by the National Commission of Kenya as a nationwide protest against the proposed tax hike in last June began.

It is said that at least 24 are still missing.

The police and the government refuse to abduct and detain illegal protesters, but the country has a history of state-provided abductions, and some Kenyan people are afraid that they are returning to that dark past.

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Mohammad Amin were ordered to produce among the seven social media affected in December.

Five suddenly appeared in various places across the country in early January.

Mr. Kanja’s lawyers sought more time from the court to record statements from him and file a report.

Billy Mawnagi is one in five. The 24 -year -old was abandoned by his alleged kidnappers from 75 km (46 mi) from his hometown to Central Kenya, a clear work of intimidation.

Billy’s father, Gerald Mawnagi Karka, said that his son was shocked by the BBC.

“The boy has not shared a lot,” he said. “I can only say that when he came, he was not his normal self. He saw in shock.”

Billy, a college student who was an outspoken critic of the government on social media, Disappeared on 21 December 2024, while at a barber shop in Emboo.

According to the witnesses, the hooded men arrived in a Toyota fielder and a double-cabin pick-up, tied him into one of the vehicles and closed it.

Within hours, the worst fears of his family began to appear.

“Most of the weekends, we are watching football together. Their club is Chelsea; I have a arsenal,” said Gerald.

He called Billy to discuss a football match on the evening of his disappearance, only to find his son’s phone.

The owner of the barbers shop later informed him of kidnapping, triggering a frantic discovery.

Billy’s mother fell when she listened to the news and was yearning for the later week.

As soon as he was found, Billy was rushed to the hospital for regular investigation. His family says he is still recovering from trauma, but his release has brought him some relief measures.

Like many people who again appear after the alleged kidnappings, Billy has said very little about his ordinance, perhaps out of fear.

Jamil and Aslam Longton remained silent even after being released in captivity for 32 days in September.

Jamil says, the brothers were warned that if they had gone to the media, they would have been killed.

Three months later, one government officially referred to his case as a valid arrest.

Brother -in -law took into confirmation that it was responsible for a government agency what they were doing and daring to speak.

“Kenya’s constitution is very clear,” says Jamil. “You should be arrested and taken to court within 24 hours. We were 32 days old. We were never given a lawyer to represent us anywhere.

“We were not allowed to see our family or communicate with our family. So it is not an arrest, it is a kidnapping.”

The brothers told the BBC that Aslam had helped organize protests against tax growth in Kitengla city near the capital Nairobi, and was warned by security agents to prevent their activism.

One day in August, both were pulled, hood and handcuffed by their house, and taken to an unknown place, where they were held in small dark cells.

Aslam says that he was beaten regularly, his torture demanded who was protesting.

“I was very scared,” they say. “When the door was opened, the man would come with a fiber cable and a metal rod.

“I was afraid that he had come to defeat me or finish me – there were only two options to defeat me or kill me.”

Jamil described his kidnappers as a heavy armed, enough to track his mobile phone and assured them to take them into a broad daylight, worked with the human rights groups, which worked with a degree of resources and a degree of flexibility. Has reported in many cases.

But this does not mean that he is the official security director, the official spokesperson Isaac Mavaura, refusing that the state is behind the kidnapping.

“Organized security may also be part of organized crime,” he told the BBC.

“This can also happen for political reasons … Our political opponents have actually participated on the issue. They actually move with it only to settle the political score.”

Mr. Mawura refused to comment Government Minister Justin Muturi’s caseOne of the most harmful prosecution of Kenya’s security agencies.

Muturi says that his son was raised by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and was issued only after making a direct appeal to President William Ruto.

“It is a matter of investigation, because it is his side of the story,” said Mr. Mawura. “But what is a counter-story of National Intelligence Service?

“I want to clearly say that the President of the Republic of Kenya, who is the head of the government, has not approved any form of kidnapping, as he is a person who believes in the rule of law.”

In fact, Ruto has publicly promised to prevent kidnapping, forced to respond to public outrage, and to worry with Western colleagues.

Many are distressed that the disappearance of anti -government activists has been revived in this way, recalling similar methods under Daniel ARAP MOI’s ruling leadership in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the early 1990s, Gitobu Imanara, a journalist and activist who campaigned for multi-party politics, was arrested and beaten by Moi’s rule. He has no doubt that he is now looking at “Moi Playbook” in action.

But, he says, time has changed. Constitutional amendments have installed more mechanisms of accountability and “Kenyai is a large section of society that will not be frightened”.

“Democratic Space has expanded so much that the government cannot overcome democratic voices of dissatisfaction,” he told the BBC.

He said with social media, “the word spreads almost immediately”, he said.

“We could not be sensors in those days in those days when we could use the landline only.”

Reports of disappearance in recent weeks have been closed.

But despite the announcement of police investigation, no one has been accused, convicted alone, to take them out.

Several advocacy groups have asked the Attorney General to send the kidnapping cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Still for the families of the missing people, the nightmare continues.

“We are very depressed, so ruined,” Steve Mabissi’s sister Stacey says Mutua, one of the seven disappeared in December.

“We are hoping that they will leave him. (Most) the kidnappers were freed, but he is still missing. We are praying that he will meet.”